Each contestant started with 50 points (30 in the final ITV series). They were asked a series of five multiple choice questions, each with six possiblities (five in the final ITV series). Each answer had a set of odds attached to it, ranging from Evens/2–1 to 5–1, and 10–1. Once each question was asked, the contestants would each state how many points they would like to gamble (but no more than the amount of points they began with), followed by each of them pressing a button to make their choice. If either of them chose the correct answer, they won the points that the odds were worth; if either of them chose an incorrect answer, however, they lost the points they gambled.

The contestant with the most points would go to the final game. The loser originally would go home with nothing; in later series they took home a filofax, or in 1988, an encyclopedia. In the Challenge version, they took home a Winner Takes All T-Shirt.

In this game, the winners played for money; until 1981, however, they could only win a maximum of £1,000 per show. The winner of this game won the show and kept the money while the runner up took home a consolation prize of £100.

At the end of the show, the winner would decide to either leave the programme, or return on the next edition and try to win some more money. If they returned on the next edition and lost, they lost all their money, save for £100. By 1979, they would only lose half their money.